Using Tectona Grandis Biomass to Produce Valuable Adsorbents for Pesticide Removal from Liquid Effluent.

This work presents a first approach concerning the valorization of Tectona Grandis tree by-products, from East Timor through their transformation into high activated carbon (AC) by chemical activation with KOH and K2CO3. The better ACs, Teak-KOH-1-1-700 and Teak-K2CO3-1-2-700, presented a high ABET (995 and 1132 m2·g-1) and micropore volume (0.43 and 0.5 cm3·g-1), respectively. Both ACs were tested on the removal of four pesticides, from the liquid phase. Both ACs performed better than existing commercial types, presenting a maximum adsorption capacity of 1.88, 1.67, 1.10 and 0.89 mmol·g-1, for 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, diuron and atrazine, respectively. Pesticide adsorption from diluted and concentrated solutions confirms that diffusion is the limiting factor. The possibility of implementing a production unit for ACs in East Timor is very promising for that country. It presents an opportunity for job creation, biomass waste reduction and a contribution to environmental sustainability, thereby following the principles of a circular economy.

Valorisation of Tectona Grandis tree sawdust through the production of high activated carbon for environment applications.

This work presents a first approach concerning the use of Tectona Grandis tree sawdust (from East Timor) for high activated carbon production, by physical activation with carbon dioxide at different temperatures. The activated carbons (AC) obtained exhibit a well-developed porous structure with a pore size distribution varying from micro to mesopores. Selected AC was successfully evaluated for pesticide removal, specific to 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid, from the liquid phase. The results presented are very promising, allowing to establish that Tectona Grandis sawdust is as an excellent precursor for the basic AC production and allow to expect good performance of theses adsorbents on the removal of a broad range of pollutants. It should also be noted that, this achievement is very relevant for developing countries, such East Timor, where Tectona Grandis sawdust is available and may constitute a source of income creating a handle to the technical and industrial development of this region.

Synthetic polymers blend used in the production of high activated carbon for pesticides removals from liquid phase.

For the activated carbon (AC) production, we used the most common industrial and consumer solid waste, namely polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), alone or blended with other synthetic polymer such polyacrylonitrile (PAN). By mixing PET, with PAN, an improvement in the yield of the AC production was found and the basic character and some textural and chemical properties were enhanced. The PET-PAN mixture was subjected to carbonisation, with a pyrolysis yield of 31.9%, between that obtained with PET (16.9%) or PAN (42.6%) separately. The AC revealed a high surface area (1400, 1230 and 1117 m2 g-1) and pore volume (0.46, 0.56 and 0.50 cm3 g-1), respectively, for PET, PAN and PET-PAN precursors. Selected ACs were successfully tested for 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) and diuron removal from the liquid phase, showing a higher adsorption capacity (1.7 and 1.2 mmol g-1, respectively, for MCPA and diuron) and good fits with the Langmuir (PET) and Freundlich equation (PAN and PET-PAN blend). With MCPA, the controlling factor to the adsorption capacity was the porous volume and the average pore size. Concerning diuron, the adsorption was controlled essentially by the external diffusion. A remarkable result is the use of different synthetic polymers wastes, as precursors for the production of carbon materials, with high potential application on the pesticides removals from the liquid phase.

Improving the knowledge on Piper betle: targeted metabolite analysis and effect on acetylcholinesterase.

Piper betle is a species growing in South East Asia, where its leaves are economically and medicinally important. To screen the highest possible number of volatile and semivolatile components, the leaves were subjected to headspace solid-phase microextraction, hydrodistillation and Soxhlet extraction, prior to analysis by GC/MS. Fifty compounds (identified by comparison with standard compounds or tentatively by National Institute of Standards and Technology database) were determined, 23 being described for the first time in this matrix. An aqueous extract was also analysed, in which only seven compounds were characterized. The organic acids' composition of this extract was determined by HPLC/UV and eight compounds are reported for the first time in P. betle. This extract also displayed acetylcholinesterase inhibitory capacity.